Author, Jennifer Finney Boylan, addresses the class of 2023 || Commencement 2023

Jennifer Finney Boylan is a bestselling author, LGBTQIA community activist, and the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University. A novelist, memoirist, and short story writer, she has written 18 books, including her 2003 memoir, She’s Not There: a Life in Two Genders, the first bestselling work by a transgender American. Other works include the memoir Good Boy: My Life in 7 Dogs, and the novel Mad Honey, co-authored with Jodi Picoult. She’s a former Contributing Opinion Writer for The New York Times, served as an advisor to the television series Transparent. Boylan currently serves on the Board of Trustees of PEN America, and is a member of the faculty of the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference of Middlebury College and the Sirenland Writers’ Conference in Positano, Italy. She served on the Board of Directors of GLAAD from 2011 to 2018, and was co-chair of the board from 2013-2017.